Improvement in putting up salt mackerel and similar fish



' for many persons to buy.

EDWARD A. PHARO, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT m PUTTING UP'SALT ACKEREL AND SIMILAR FISH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patentlfl'o. 132,316, dated Octobcr'15, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. PHARO, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Putting up Mackerel; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to an improved method of putting up salt mackerel, as hereinafter ful y described.

Heretofore salt mackerel have been put up in wooden barrels, kegs, and kits. The form or kind of vessel used was made necessary by the fact that it was difficult or practically out of the question to make a square water-tight box. Hence, also, the size of the package was limited-that is, no package smaller than the kitwhich holds, say, about twenty-five pounds of fish-could be conveniently employed. The result was that many families were deprived of purchasing from first hands, as even the smallest-sized package-a kit-is much too large Another objection was on the part of dealers who, not selling in bulk, were obliged to open the packages and handle the mackerel, a necessity particularly disagreeable to country dealers, who keep stocks of silk and dry-goods which are soiled by contact with brine. The odor, too,- arising from an opened barrel of salt mackerel is held in extreme repugnance by many people. To obviate these several objections I have devised a method whereby salt mackerel can be put up in any-sized packages, so as to come of two witnesses.

dimensions to hold, say, five, ten, or fifteen pounds of mackerel. When metal is employed in the construction of the boxes I design using a wash or varnish to protect the same from the action of the pickle. When metal is not used, but instead some material which may not be acted upon by the brine, this wash may be dispensed with. Although metal is deemed the most suitable material for the boxes, India rubber or some other substance may be advantageously employed.

Besides those already enumerated another advantage of this method of putting up salt mackerel is that thepurchaser pays only for what he gets. Thus a quarter barrel of mackerel is supposed to run fifty pounds, and a purchaser, in buying a package of that size, imagines that he gets that quantity. Frequently, however, the packages run short; a quarter barrel, for instance, of repacked containing generally only about thirtyfive pounds. When, however, he buys by the pound, as he must do in this case, he pays, as already remarked, only for what he gets.

Still another advantage of this method is that as I design using only the best quality of fish, the interest of the purchaser is consulted, which is not always the case now, as the packer, not having a due regard for reputation, puts up an inferior quality of goods, and does not give full weight.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-- The herein-described method of putting up salt mackereL-namely,inahermeticallysealed box.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence EDW. A. PnARo.

Witnesses:

GEORGE OLoUeH, M. DANL. GoNNoLLY. t?)

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